That’s one small step for man “One giant leap for mankind”
Astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82
Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon has died at the age of 82.
A statement from Armstrong’s family said he died following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. It does not say where he died.
Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the Moon on July 20 1969. He radioed back to Earth the historic news of “one giant leap for mankind”.
Armstrong was a quiet, self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when as a steely nerved US pilot he made his “one giant leap for mankind” with a small step on to the Moon. In those first few moments on the Moon, during the climax of a heated space race with the then-Soviet Union, Armstrong stopped in what he called “a tender moment” and left a patch to commemorate Nasa astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action. “It was special and memorable, but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do,” Armstrong told an Australian television interviewer this year.
“The sights were simply magnificent, beyond any visual experience that I had ever been exposed to,” Armstrong once said.
Although he had been a navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for Nasa’s forerunner and an astronaut, Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamour of the space programme. “I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer,” he said in February 2000 in one of his rare public appearances. “And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession.”
Announcing his death, Mr Armstrong’s family said in a statement: “We are heartbroken to share the news that Neil Armstrong has passed away following complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures. Neil was our loving husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend. Neil Armstrong was also a reluctant American hero who always believed he was just doing his job. He served his nation proudly as a Navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. While we mourn the loss of a very good man we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.”
Alzheimer’s hits women more severely than men
Researchers at the University of Hartfordshire performed a meta-study,
Alzheimer’s hits women more severely than men, even when both are in the same stage of the disease.
Researchers from the University of Hertfordshire discovered that men with Alzheimer’s consistently performed better than their women counterparts, across the five cognitive areas they examined.
Most remarkably, the verbal skills of women with Alzheimer’s are worse when compared to men with the disease, the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology reports.
Researchers led by Keith Laws, professor of psychology at Hertfordshire, completed a meta-analysis of neurocognitive data from 15 published studies, which revealed a consistent male advantage on verbal and visuo-spatial tasks, and tests of both episodic and semantic memory.
Episodic memory is our ability to recall specific events of our past, accompanied by the feeling of remembering. Semantic memory is the other knowledge that we acquire which is purely factual without any personal feeling or history attached, according to a Hertfordshire statement.
“Unlike mental decline associated with normal aging, something about Alzheimer’s specifically disadvantages women. There has been some previous, but limited, evidence that women with Alzheimer’s deteriorate faster than men in the earlier stages of the disease,” said Law.
Further analysis of the study data showed that age, education level and dementia severity did not explain the advantage that men with the disease have over women with the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease, which damages memory, thinking, behaviour and emotion, is the most common form of dementia affecting 30 million people worldwide, with 4.6 million new cases being added every year.
Sales of daily newspapers in Ireland decline by 7.3% while Sunday titles down 8%
Newspaper sales in Ireland continue to decline for the first half of 2012, with the daily market shrinking 7.3 per cent and the Sunday market down 8 per cent, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Sales of The Irish Times fell 8.3 per cent in January-June 2012 compared with the same period in 2011. Its circulation stands at 92,565, down from 100,951, a drop of 8,386 copies. Some 90.7 per cent of the circulation is actively purchased.
The ABC Island of Ireland Report shows the Irish Independent’s circulation fell 6.1 per cent, with a year-on-year drop of 8,242 copies taking its circulation to 125,986.
The broadsheet edition continues to account for 30 per cent of the Irish Independent’s sales, while 89 per cent of its circulation was actively purchased.
Sales of the Thomas Crosbie Holdings-owned Irish Examiner fell 7.2 per cent to 40,245 copies, down 3,145 copies.
In the daily evening market, the Evening Herald saw its circulation fall 1.2 per cent to 61,179, while Thomas Crosbie Holdings’ Evening Echo endured a 12.3 per cent decline to 17,556.
The Sunday Independent reclaimed its position as the biggest-selling title, with a circulation of 238,798. This was down 6.6 per cent on the first half of 2011.
The Sunday World went back to being the second highest-selling title at a circulation of 226,932, down 8.1 per cent.
Elsewhere in the Sunday market, there was a steep fall for the Sunday Business Post, also part of the TCH group. Its circulation dropped 14.2 per cent and it now sells 41,040 copies.
Separate ABC figures show British-published newspapers also saw their Irish sales fall in the first half of the year.
The Sunday Times’s circulation performed better than most on a year-on-year basis and now stands at 106,113, down 4.1 per cent, while the Irish Daily Mail’s circulation was down fractionally at 50,780.
Among the redtops, the Sun dropped 9.3 per cent to 72,499, while the Mirror fell 7.3 per cent to 57,445. The Star has a circulation of 75,293 copies on the island of Ireland, down 13.5 per cent.
In the Sunday market, there were year-on-year boosts for the Sunday Mirror, which gained 16.4 per cent to 47,468, and the People, which rose 7.5 per cent to 20,271.
Both titles are likely to have picked up readers as a result of the closure of the News of the World in July 2011 following a spate of phone-hacking allegations against its reporters and editors.
However, the circulation of both the Sunday Mirror and the People went into reverse in the first half of 2012 compared with the second half of last year – a trend that can be explained by News International’s launch of the Sun on Sunday in February.
The Sun on Sunday sold an average of 82,329 copies in Ireland since its launch. However, its sales have decreased over the months, from 109,450 in February to 74,566 in June.
The UK edition of the Daily Star Sunday sells 28,664 copies in Ireland, up slightly on the first half of 2011, when it effectively replaced the Irish Daily Star Sunday, which ceased publication in January 2011.
The Irish Mail on Sunday, meanwhile, has a circulation of 108,981 copies, down 3.7 per cent.
The London Independent, which was withdrawn from sale in Ireland in July, had an average daily circulation of 812 copies in the Republic, while its sister title the Independent on Sunday sold an average of 1,280 copies, ABC figures show.
These circulations were too low to justify the costs of printing and distributing the paper in Ireland, the newspaper, owned by Alexander Lebedev, indicated earlier this summer.
The Irish Times Digital Edition had an audited circulation of 2,280 copies during the period, up 12 per cent on the second half of 2011, the first period for which audited figures are available.
The audited print circulation of The Irish Times includes 4,012 copies sold overseas.
Greenstar goes bust as €83.2m loans called in by seven banks
Greenstar recycling facility in Old Fassaroe, Bray, Co Wicklow, yesterday: the waste management group, Ireland’s biggest, was placed into receivership yesterday after a consortium of seven banks called in loans.
The biggest waste management company in Ireland Greenstar, was placed into receivership yesterday after a consortium of seven banks called in loans of €83.2 million.
This followed a breach in 2011 of the covenants attaching to the borrowings.
The decision by the banks to call in their loans resulted in the board of Greenstar appointing David Carson of Deloitte as receiver.
Mr Carson said the business would continue as a going concern with a view to effecting a trade sale. The company has 800 staff.
He said a number of parties had expressed an interest in acquiring the business.
“My initial priority is to engage with those who have already expressed an interest in acquiring the business of Greenstar and to identify other potential buyers,” Mr Carson said.
It is understood that NTR recently offered to acquire the loans off the banks at a significant discount but this was rejected by the lenders.
NTR was also owed €35.5 million by Greenstar, which racked up its debts through a number of acquisitions here during the boom years.
Irish-American businessman David McCourt and US billionaire Walter Scott were recently linked in reports with a joint bid for Greenstar along with US private equity firm Gores Groups.
Reports suggested they were willing to pay €50 million for the business, with the banks writing off the balance of their loans.
The syndicate of lenders comprises AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Rabobank and Bank of Scotland (Ireland).
Greenstar has effectively been up for sale for the past two years.
Greenstar Holdings Ltd made a loss of €64.1 million in the year to the end of March 2011 compared with €11.9 million in the previous year.
Its revenues increased by €26.9 million due to the acquisition of two businesses.
The company took an impairment charge of €49.9 million in its 2011 accounts, and the net assets of the business were written down to €25.6 million as a result.
This resulted in the company breaching its debt covenants and meant the loans were immediately repayable to the banks.
NTR has written off its investment in Greenstar.
The board of Greenstar yesterday expressed its “disappointment at the unexpected move” taken by the lenders to demand immediate repayment of its facilities without “any prior indication or notice”.
“It is regrettable that they have chosen to take this action at this time in respect of a business that had not missed any scheduled repayments to its banks and was in a strong cash position to continue trading for the foreseeable future,” the board added.
Greenstar was founded in 1999 and serves 15,000 commercial customers and 80,000 households here.
It operates from 20 licensed sites across the State.
Its revenues have been under pressure in the downturn due to a reduction in waste volumes and reduced prices for landfill and commercial waste.
US Nurse throw’s away sibling’s transplant kidney meant for older sister
A nurse accidentally disposed of a kidney from a living donor a brother meant for older his sister at a US hospital
A nurse accidentally disposed of a kidney from a living donor at a US hospital which later suspended its kidney transplant programme.
The University of Toledo Medical Centre, Ohio, suspended the programme after the botched transplant earlier this month.
The Blade newspaper reported that a kidney donated by a man to his older sister was thrown away with medical waste in what experts described as a rare accident.
The Toledo-Lucas County health commissioner confirmed that a nurse disposed of the kidney.
A hospital official said doctors tried unsuccessfully for at least two hours to resuscitate the organ in an attempt to make it usable.
The hospital blamed “human error” and suspended two operating-room nurses.
It is unclear what happened to the intended kidney recipient.
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